{"id":43775,"date":"2023-10-20T15:31:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/why-size-doesnt-matter-when-landing-big-clients-startupsmart-2\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:31:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:31:04","slug":"why-size-doesnt-matter-when-landing-big-clients-startupsmart-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/why-size-doesnt-matter-when-landing-big-clients-startupsmart-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why size doesn\u2019t matter when landing big clients – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nailing that first account with a big business is a rite of passage for every start-up.<\/p>\n

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The process is easier with some multinationals than others. Recent Australian ventures by Google<\/a> and Microsoft<\/a> demonstrate a desire to embrace the smaller end of the market, not to mention the recent emergence of WEConnect International<\/a>, a network linking big businesses to budding female entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

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But how does a virtually unknown start-up win that first account, pitch itself against established rivals and also make sure the business isn\u2019t swamped in the process?<\/p>\n

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Micah Smith, a director of IT infrastructure consultancy business Thomas Duryea, says it took a few years before what he calls \u201centerprise clients\u201d or larger businesses were prepared to do business with the firm.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe had formed strong relationships with a number of mid-market businesses and when staff from these businesses who had had a good relationship with us moved into larger organisations, it served as a good entry point into these larger firms,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve also put in a lot of hard work cold calling sales prospects at bigger firms and honing our unique selling proposition. At the start, we also got specialist help preparing tenders,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

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When it comes to pitching against larger competitors, Smith says the business emphasises the advantages of having a local support presence, compared to international firms that might provide support offshore.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re also smaller and faster than large organisations, which don\u2019t necessarily treat every engagement with the same passion that we do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Smith says it\u2019s also important to demonstrate that you understand that larger, more mature clients have particular internal processes and change and project management systems that need to be respected.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEven in the pitching process, it\u2019s important to acknowledge you understand and will comply with their systems,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou also need to appreciate their risk of engaging with you as a smaller organisation, they are assessing whether you have enough resources, so you need to understand this view and respond to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Indeed, when it comes to making sure you have the right resources to take on a project with a big business, Smith says it\u2019s essential not to oversell your business.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nailing that first account with a big business is a rite of passage for every start-up.   The process is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}